Adapted from King’s novel and brought to life by Carpenter’s directorial vision, “Christine” tells the story of a menacing 1958 Plymouth Fury in a striking cherry red. The car, with a dangerous mind of its own, first appears on a Detroit assembly line in 1957, where it injures one worker and kills another before leaving the factory. Fast forward to 1978, Christine has been nicknamed by her first owner and makes her way to California. Here, she is purchased by Arnie Cunningham, a high school student portrayed by Keith Gordon. As Arnie dedicates himself to restoring Christine, an eerie bond forms, transforming him into a more aggressive version of himself. Christine reveals her sinister capabilities, driving autonomously and repairing herself. When she targets Arnie’s girlfriend, Leigh Cabot, played by Alexandra Paul, it falls to Leigh and Arnie’s friend, Dennis Guilder, played by John Stockwell, to intervene and save Arnie from the car’s grip.

With a worldwide gross of over $21 million against a budget of $9.7 million, “Christine” became a commercial success and received critical acclaim. The film maintains a commendable 72% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Despite its success, one key figure associated with the project, Stephen King himself, expressed discontent with the final product.

King has openly shared his disappointment with “Christine,” classifying it alongside Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of “The Shining” as somewhat dull. In an interview with Salon, King remarked, “They’re actually sort of boring. Speaking for myself, I’d rather have bad than boring.” This candid assessment stands in contrast to Carpenter’s perspective. Known for his dismissive stance on critics, Carpenter told The Flashback Files, “Stephen King loves everything and then he hates it. He’s a weird-ass guy. Just weird. Started out as a teacher. What the hell you want?”

Stephen King has admitted that he wasn’t particularly happy about how “Christine” turned out. While it wasn’t one of the many adaptations of King’s work the author overtly hated, he hit the film with an even more damning condemnation. Grouping “Christine” together with Stanley Kubrick’s version of “The Shining,” he told Salon, “They’re actually sort of boring. Speaking for myself, I’d rather have bad than boring.” Ouch. For his part, John Carpenter has said that he doesn’t care what people think about his movies, even King. “Stephen King loves everything and then he hates it,” he told The Flashback Files. “He’s a weird-ass guy. Just weird. Started out as a teacher. What the hell you want?”

Carpenter has made it clear that he’s proud of how “Christine” turned out. Interestingly, he only did the film because “The Thing” bombed at the box office in 1982. “I needed a job after ‘The Thing’ because nobody would hire me. So this came along and I took the job, and it turned out better than it had any right to,” he told Variety. “I don’t know, maybe I made a mistake, but it turned out okay,” he added. Nowadays, both “The Thing” and “Christine” are considered to be among the best horror movies of the 1980s. “Christine” is arguably one of the most underrated Stephen King adaptations of all time on top of being one of the best John Carpenter movies ever made.